Redefining Retirement: Judith GrandPre’ Smith Shares Comfort

Judith GrandPre’ Smith has many gifts and talents. She is an artist, a writer, and a teacher. It is her belief that there is “Always a way to help others”; that defines who she is and all of her actions.

After a 42-year career as a special education teacher with the Chicago Public Schools, Judith joined the Cares Mentoring Program at her former high school, John Marshall Harlan Community Academy. She draws from her teaching experience and continues to impart wisdom that may be found in her poetry book,” Don't Fight, Forgive,’’ an anti-violence poetry book with morals and messages for parents, teachers, and children.

In the spirit of providing support and encouragement, during Judith’s retirement journey, she began creating Comfort Baskets.  Judith puts her love for crafting and the arts by creating custom-made baskets for people who are experiencing challenges, a loss, or for a celebratory occasion. She has donated numerous custom baskets to American Legion veterans, Chicago Public School students and staff and members of her church. She says, “Making baskets gives me a sense of purpose and meaning.”

Redefining Retirement: Embrace All Your Career Paths

Redefining Retirement: Lost History Discovered

John Ruskamp did not set out to make an epigraphic (the study of inscriptions) discovery and become a sought after researcher and expert. He believes the rocks spoke to him and the rest is serendipity.

The former CPS math and science teacher and assistant principal’s discovery of rare Chinese rock writings in North America was fueled by curiosity and past experience. John retired from teaching in 2004 and promised himself that he would take a break from everything, enjoy retirement, and allow about 18 months to see “what found him.” On a hiking trip in Utah, he recognized 3,000-year-old Chinese scripts hidden in the rocks. John had some familiarity with Chinese writing from his active duty days in the Navy in Vietnam. Using his background knowledge and curiosity, he felt challenged to continue searching to see if there were more. This began his retirement journey. He believes he was at the right place at the right time and is thankful he was able to connect with expert archeologists and epigraphic experts who encouraged him to persist and publish his work for all to learn from and enjoy.

John founded a registered research association, Epigraphic Research, and his discoveries, work, and more may be found on his website, www.asiaticechoes.org. Some of his projects include monitoring and disseminating scientific research about the Shroud of Turin, investigating the Hooper Ranch Pueblo Sun Dagger Shrine and Quetzalcoatl Effigy, and the ongoing identification of ancient Chinese rock writings in North America. He is involved with the Adler Planetarium's near-space high altitude balloon program and is a frequent lecturer. John is a member of numerous intellectual, scientific, cultural, historical, archaeological, and religious organizations.

Redefining Retirement – Follow Your Passion

Many writers pass on their knowledge in the classroom before committing their teachings to paper. Patricia Palmer Dameron was a single mom of two balancing a demanding teaching schedule. While she would write topical scriptures and ideas for a future book, she just didn’t have the time to sit down and write her book while she was still teaching.

As a CPS middle school teacher, Dameron focused on helping students (especially the most at risk) be “good students and be the kind of people who will contribute positively to society.” Her religion and strong faith guided her as she taught with purpose to pull the best out of her students and believed deeply that if she could get students to “change their heart, they would change along with it to become who they were destined to be.”  Dameron is certain that she reached many students, as evidenced by notes that she received from former students about their successes and outlook on life.

During retirement, Dameron’s next chapter of her life began with a focus on spending time with family and helping to raise her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She spends time with them assisting with homework, going on field trips, and encouraging them to be the “best people they can possibly be.” She also found the time to write and publish her book, The ABCs of Christ-Centered Teaching: a candid and insightful memoir and guide to teaching. She states that the book was born “not only out of my desire to share why I wanted to become a teacher, but most importantly how my steps were divinely directed by my strong faith.” In the book she shares her experiences of teaching youth and of being a student herself on her journey to find purpose through prayer.

Redefining Retirement – Juggling the Demands of Retirement

After 24 years of teaching English, English as a Second Language (ESL), and working with the hearing impaired, Barry Rapoport gave up juggling the workload and demands of being a Chicago Public School high school teacher to spend more time juggling (literally). He will juggle with just about any item but is especially interested in perfecting his skill at juggling while solving a Rubik’s Cube.

Most of us are familiar with the colorful Rubik’s cube, a puzzle covered with multicolored squares which players twist and turn until all squares on a face are of the same color. Deceptively simple, less than 5.8% of the world’s population can solve the puzzle. Remarkably, some jugglers try to simultaneously solve three Rubik’s cubes while actively juggling. A young boy holds the Guinness World Record for the feat, and Rapoport is determined to achieve or beat the world record. He is particularly excited about new cube technology which allows for faster movement on what is referred to as a Speed Cube or Speed Square.

Rapoport learned to juggle at a young age from watching his brother. He has enjoyed the hobby throughout the years and, as a first-time dad, he used his daughter’s nap time  to perfect his craft and continued experimenting with new items to juggle. He became an active member of the International Jugglers’ Association (IJA) (www.juggle.org). He enjoys helping the organization educate and provide assistance to fellow jugglers, and frequently attends conventions and festivals. His involvement in the IJA sparked his interest in juggling while solving a Rubik’s cube.

Redefining Retirement – Be True to What You Love

For 22 years, Turtel Onli, a working artist, taught art and coached sports in eight different Chicago Public Schools (CPS). He fully appreciated and seized the opportunity to teach, took great pride in the relationships he built with his colleagues and students, and pushed to raise awareness of the visual arts in CPS throughout the City of Chicago. His students often described him as “more of a mentor than a teacher.” 

Onli retired from CPS in 2013. He initially felt a bit of a void as he was fully invested in teaching. He missed the ‘daily rhythm’ of going to a school each day. Since he always thought of himself as an artist, he ‘had to go to it.’ Onli filled his days pursuing his passions of creating art, graphic novels, comic books, and the celebration of characters and concepts derived from the indie Black, African, and urban experience. As he was no longer constrained by the day-to-day work schedule and school calendar, he found himself making more artwork with his hands and spending even more time at Onli Studios, which he started in 1981 and opened at the Bridgeport Art Center in 2009. Onli Studios produces Rhythmistic fine art and indie graphic novels for collectors and art lovers who want different, sincere yet creative quality. In addition, it is now a small functioning publisher selling books at the DuSable Museum of African American History and online.

When Onli isn’t at a table drawing, researching art or mentoring the next budding artist, he enjoys regular workouts and taking advantage of all the City of Chicago has to offer. He suggests biking on the lakefront when the weather allows. He stated, “whatever you have to do and can do to make your retirement better is worth doing it.” Want to learn more about his work? Visit his website. And if you know how to do old style animation, he would love to recruit retirees to join him to work on an indie animation project!

Subtracting from the Bucket List

Just Do It!

Have you ever envisioned what your life would be like in retirement? Will you travel? Write a book? Spend more time with friends? Pick up a new hobby? Work part time? There is no right or wrong answer, but retirement is like a book – there are countless books to choose from and several chapters to read.

After retiring from teaching about ten years ago, Patrick Eibergen got to work writing the many chapters of his retirement. He literally wrote a book, “Sleep in Heavenly Peace - The Art of Praying Away Insomnia.” Knowing

that he needed purpose in his days, he continued to ‘write chapters,’ honing his bird watching hobby, spending time with friends, regularly walking along Chicago’s lakefront, substitute teaching at nearby CPS schools, learning to speak Spanish, and the highlight of it all – traveling to Spain as often as possible.

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